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Friday, December 31, 2010

Here we are on the edge of 2010 ... For me personally it has been a very eventful year ... one I'm sure I could write a book about ... a journey that has taken me to every conceivable place in my soul ... And here I sit content ... a lot braver, a life fuller, and with lessons learned ...

Today is always a day of reflection ... and yet also a day of hopeful anticipation ... On this day 8 years ago I found my Mum in a sleep she would never wake from ... I miss her - but I am no longer sad ... I celebrate her ... And I celebrate your friendships ... and want to share a couple of cards that just arrived

This is from sweet Linda Robinson... my fellow DT at CCCB ... Isn't that just a beautiful handmade card? "Thank You" Linda ... I love it!

And this beautiful card and precious handmade tag came from Steph ... All the way from Hawaii ...

"Thank You" so much Steph ...

I can also tell you that the plaque in my previous post was very well received today (sigh of relief) ... both Mother and Daughter were delighted and I can see I will be requested to do a lot more of these!

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year ... May peace and happiness be your companions throughout the coming year ... Thank you all so very much for your kindness

Thursday, December 30, 2010

A few months ago I picked up some books in one of our stores ... Melissa Frances and Anna Corba books .. I love to look at them all the time and I was determined to make some of the plaques Anna Corba style ... It had been my intention to make one for each of my family and friends as added Christmas gifts ... I duly bought the melting pot and beeswax recommended ... along with the plywood and black acrylic paint ...

However, time got away from me and I didn't get the opportunity ... So, last night I decided to do one as an extra gift for a friend's daughter who celebrates her birthday tomorrow ... I melted the wax (took ages) made the plaque and then made a complete mess of it! Yes, I watched all the videos and thought I had it all in hand, but obviously not ... I definitely need more practice! So here is the second plaque ... sans the beeswax!

I painted a 5 x 7 piece of plywood in black acrylic ... then used some gorgeous Pink Paislee paper which I stamped in places using the beautiful stamp set from Eline's Huis and printed my photograph onto thin card stock after converting it to black and white ...

... after adhering the photo and smoothing everything with my brayer ... I should have then covered it with the melted beeswax ... but I left this and just punched holes to add some craft wire and a little embellishing ...

My melting pot has been shoved to the side until I am ready to talk to it again ... patience is a virtue!

Till soon

~ Ros ~

P.S. Thanks so much for all your birthday wishes to Mikey ... so sweet of you and much appreciated

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Today is my son's birthday ... it's hard to believe that he came into the world 28 years ago ... I can hardly remember life without him .... He is my sunshine ... my greatest gift ... and without doubt my best creation ...

Life isn't what we had planned as children ... I was going to marry and have lots of children ... well, at least one of each ... then after 7 years of waiting I was blessed with my one and only

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Hi there ... I hope you all enjoyed your celebrations and are looking forward to the New Year ... today of course is week 37 of City Crafter Challenge ... Linda is hosting for us and has challenged us to use stamps ... rubber or clear ... on our card or project. I don't know about you, but faced with a challenge to use something we use regularly without thinking about ... suddenly draws a blank ... for a while I stared at my box of rubber stamps, fumbled through my box of clear stamps ... and finally decided on one of each ...

Our sponsor this week is our dear friend June and she kindly sent us all

some of her beautiful handmade pins to use on our projects

I stamped the swallowtail butterfly (an Inca rubber stamp) twice, layered it and added blue sparkly stickles to various places and used this lovely pin as the body for the butterfly

I used a lovely border stamp (a gift from Stella) and brown pigment ink to stamp directly on the Jack and Jill Prima paper ...

We also have a fantastic Guest Designer this week ... Betik ... please take a moment to check out her fabulous creations ... you won't be disappointed I can tell you ... I can't wait to see what you all come up with this week ...

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Hello my lovely creative blog friends ... Did you enjoy your Christmas Day? My husband, my son and I had a lovely day together ... We woke up to thick freezing fog and Hubby and I attempted to get to church but the fog was so bad and the car was skidding on the icy roads ... we didn't get far and had to turn around and come back. It was disappointing but the roads here even got closed by the Police because of the ice ... so it was the wise thing to do. Dinner was lovely and then a lazy day followed with phone calls and skyping with family ... The lovely Clare kindly passed on a blog award to me today ...

Part of accepting this award is to:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award. Thanks Clare
2. Share 8 things about yourself
3. Pass it on to 8 bloggers
4. Contact those bloggers and tell them about their award

So 8 things about me ....

1. I love to create ... whether it be with papers, materials, plants, food ... I just love to see something come together.

2. I adore animals ... at one time I had 12 cats and kittens ... some sick - all homeless - that I nurtured back to health, had neutered and either kept or re - homed ...and because my son when he was little was of the same ilk ... I have even 'healed' half dead mice, frogs and once a baby blackbird that didn't even have it's feathers yet! (Yep, hourly feeding day and night!)

Thursday, December 23, 2010

... That's the challenge this week over at The Shabby Tea Room .. and due to commitments it's been sooo long since I got to enter one of their challenges ... so with some time on my hands I finally got to enter this one ... This is the inspirational photo ...

... Love this red and white ...

I have lots of pictures to share so I hope you don't get bored ...

I made a house gift box and a card ... this is the house

I made up the template and then stitched this pretty red and white fabric all around it

... a cute fabric covered robin sits on a sparkly snowflake ...

Vellum patterned paper and lace on a corrugated roof ...

more vellum and a wooden heart with a wooden covered flower on the side

This is the other side ... another heart with a covered butterfly

and I strung heart shaped buttons with beads to each corner

then finished with a ribbon and a sparkly embellishment ...

On to my card ... using the same theme ...

I cut a heart shape out of thick felt and one out of the same fabric I used on the house

and stitched them together ... added some lace ...

a fabric flower with pearls and a gem and a sprig of berries

But see the heart comes off to use as a decoration ...

I had fun making this ... what do you think?

Whilst crafting today there have been two serious accidents at the back of my house ... just beyond our garden is some woodland and then a main road which is so very icy and drivers are still going too fast .. no sooner had the Fire brigade, police and ambulance cleared one accident when another car landed in exactly the same place ... scary!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Are you fed up of Christmas cards yet? I have couple to share ... and then need to make a start on birthday cards ... so many coming up ... my son has a birthday on the 29th ... So he's next on the list ...

I bought this whole pad of MME glitter papers last year and there is still loads left ... I love it ... it is the kind of paper that doesn't just restrict itself to Christmas ... the patterns are subtle and it is so thick too

... And I don't think I will ever tire of these felt snowflakes either ...

I adore this red flocked paper which came with a kit from "Cupcards to Go" also last year ... but I'm not sure I can get this again ... maybe you sweet bloggers can let me know

I got more "Happy Mail" ... from the lovely Stella ... a dear friend who is not feeling too well at the moment ... maybe you can stop by and leave her some love?

A stunning card and Scandinavian wrapped presents ...

Don't they look absolutely beautiful??

They are tucked under my tree ready for Christmas morning ...

I can't wait to see what is inside them ..

"Thank You" dear Stella ... get well soon

And one last thing before I go ... 2 weeks ago our Thursday club finished for the Christmas break and I was presented with a beautiful box with 4 hyacinth bulbs ... as a thank you for all I have done throughout the year ... so lovely ... and I couldn't resist photographing them this morning in all their glory ... a promise of Spring to come ... Their scent fills the house ...

Hello from a very cold and icy UK ... how are you all? Today atCity Crafter Challenge we have Kirsty hosting for us ... our last challenge before Christmas ... can you believe it?? and she has taken us to the beautiful city of Apsen in Colorado for a Vintage Christmas ... (make a card or project with a Vintage feel) .. We have the very talented Cassandra of Cassi's Creationsas our sponsor and the equally talented Ula Kazmierowska as our Guest Designer (please have a look at her creations ... they are truly stunning!)...Now you all know that I have been a fan of Cassi's Creations for a long time and have bought quite a few things from her that you have seen on my cards and projects ... this week we all got a freebie to use which you can see on CCCB... another beautiful soft digital picture ... this is my creation ...

These digital files are so lovely to use ... you can make them any size and you get to use them over and over again .... I paired mine with a digital background that I did on my computer a couple of years ago and some lovely MME paper

I added some glitter to the little girl's coat and just dotted some on the scroll work

Some ribbon and berries and a cute bell which I also dipped in glitter

I made the lace flower and this pretty centrepiece is in fact an earring that I cut the back off and glued to the centre of the lace flower ...

Whenever I see earrings and trinkets going cheap, I buy them to use in crafting ...

Please do take a look at all the beautiful creations on City Crafterthis week ... both the DT and our GD have done amazing work with this beautiful image ... and Cassi's Creations has the most fabulous prize on offer ... I am so jealous!! If you are wary of digital ... don't be ... just give it a try and you can even use the image we did!

I am so looking forward to seeing what you come up with ... I love a vintage Christmas ...

Monday, December 20, 2010

Hi ... I am thrilled to see that I got into the top 6 over at Embellish Magazine for their challenge "What's Hot for the Holidays" .. Here... and I just wanted to say Thank You to the crew at EM and also to a couple of sweet bloggers who let me know! Jinny - a well deserved winner too (Congrats) and Emily ... Thank you so much ... and Many Congratulations to the winner Geri ... With all the Christmas preparations I had completely forgotten about challenges so it was a lovely surprise!Have a wonderful Day!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

I'm popping in this morning with a card I made for the challenge over at Just us Girls... it's been ages since I did any challenges just due to being busy with other things so it was a welcome change to make a non Christmas card ... This weeks' challenge is a colour challenge and this is the inspiration photo from Leslie at A Creative Mint ...

Another beautiful and restful photo ... This is my card ...

I really love this colour combination ... kind of reminds me that Spring will soon be on the way ...

that's if this snow clears!

A mix of flowers ... Prima, crochet and handmade, with a glittered leaf, tulle and ribbon

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Good morning dear friends ... I have lots to share with you this morning, but first ...

want to see some pictures of my garden?

Pretty huh?

and deep ...

I went out first thing this morning in my PJ's to clear a space for the birds to feed ...

... Though there are still a few berries to be seen ...

The snow started yesterday evening when it was already dark ... the beauty of it last night was amazing ... The one thing I notice and adore, is that snowfall brings with it an uncanny silence ... especially at night ... it's like the whole world has suddenly come to a stop to watch this amazing beauty.

Of course I know that it causes havoc and it is not everyone's friend ... and I for one do not like to drive in it ... Yet I can't help but still feel the wide eyed child in me as I gaze out of my window ... Now it looks like Christmas!

I have some things to share that I made during my time as Guest Designer for

Kirsty sent me the December kit ... Times Square Twenty 11 and there was so much to play with ... these are my final projects and I still have things left over

This is a house shaped folder ... made to hold a very special photograph ....

This is 3 generations of my family ... my Grandmother holding my first nephew .. her first Great Grandchild ... my Mum and Dad are looking on at their first Grandchild ... whilst my SIL's Gran also bestows her love on her first Great Grandchild

Friday, December 17, 2010

Hello my lovelies how are you? ... it's cold but sunny here ... just got to watch the ice ... so easy to slip out there ... but thankfully I don't have to drive anywhere ... I've just been to the dentist and later I am being taken to town for my Christmas gift from my Husband and son ... they are getting me an Apple laptop so that I can use it anywhere ... How great is that? So today I have a few little tags and one last bookmark to share ... using up my enormous heap of scraps ...

There's no rhyme or reason to these ... no two are the same ... just a collection of different bits and pieces ... but I like them like that ...

a couple of close ups

I love the rich red sparkly paper ... and I love the postcard print backgrounds

they go so well with cream lace

And my final book mark ...

Also with a rich red and some Prima "Jack & Jill" paper ...

This time I sprayed the flowers with glimmer mist (TA Tattered Rose) .. from Pixie Dust Paperie

and once assembled ... I used a crimson ink pad to deepen the edges.

And for those of you who were wondering as to how these flowers are made ...

well it couldn't be simpler ...

I used this punch ( 2") and punch out 5 or 6 ... make a hole in the centre

and thread them onto a brad alternating the shape ...

If you are going to spray do so first and let them dry before threading them on to your brad

Tip - I find the spray gives a natural curl to the paper

when I leave them on top of the radiator to dry - I put kitchen paper under them

Once you have them on your brad and your brad through your card ...

or in this case my wooden heart ... just start to squash each one

individually towards the centre ... You can curl or fold as you wish ...

So simple but I think they are so effective ...

That's it for now my friends ... I'm off to town ... Have yourselves a lovely day

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All content except where stated (including text, photographs and designs) are the copyright of Ros Crawford (Mikeys Mom). My artwork is shared for personal inspiration only and may not be copied for publication or contest entry.